Hi all, my friends and I just played Descent for the first time last night and (of course) we generated a lot of rules questions. I already read the FAQ and tried browsing the forums a bit, but I am still unclear on a few things. Also, I ONLY have the master set, so info from the expansions won't help me yet.

1. When a hero purchases an extra skill card with coins, does that increase his maximum skill cards beyond 3, or does it simply allow him to replace one of his existing cards?

2. Are there any rules/penalties for using ranged weapons on adjacent targets?

3. When heroes run out of conquest tokens, does the game immediately end or does it end after that person's turn is finished? In other words, if on a hero's turn he loses conquest tokens, can he finish his turn and, for example, open a portal that would bring their conquest tokens above 0?

4. If a monster uses knockback to launch a hero into a pit, does the hero take the pit damage?

5. It says that whichever hero gains the most conquest tokens in a quest is the winner. Do they get any bonus rewards for winning?

6. For knockback, stun, and web, it says the effect takes place before armor is factored. So can the monster cause his effect to trigger even if he didn't do enough damage to get past the hero's armor? For example, a bane spider attacks a hero who has 2 armor. The bane spider does only 1 damage. Does the web effect trigger?

7. It says that figures with undying come back to life if a power surge is rolled, but then the leftover damage still applies. What if the original attack had piercing on it? Does the leftover damage have piercing? What happed last night: a hero shot a sorcerer, dealing 10 damage with pierce 2. The sorcerer then has armor of 0, the 5 damage kills it. It revives with undying, but 5 damage is leftover. If the piercing still applies, the sorcerer is dead (again). If not, then the sorcerer is left with 3 life.

8. On the leadership card, can the hero with this skill use this ability to place the order on himself?

Thanks in advance for any help with all these questions.

McRae said:

2) No. You can use them on an adjacent target just like younormally use them.

3) If the heroes run out of conquest tokens they lose. No matter when this happens. Conquest = 0 --> OL has won the game

4) Yes.

6) Yes it does trigger. These effects always trigger excaept the attack misses (you roll an X).

In the other ones I'm not that sure... so I wouldlet somebody else answer them

Cheers

1. he never replaces a skill in his possession and may purchase an additional skill to possess 4 or even 5 total skills.

2. There is no benefit or drawback from firing a ranged or magic attack point-blank. Not having to worry about range is a nice benefit however.

3. In the quest description the wording usually goes; “if ever the heroes reach 0 conquest or below the overlord wins” I’ve always interpreted this to mean an immediate victory on the overlords part.

4. Oh yes! You can also knockback into scything blades, lava, and creatures with the aura ability to achieve similar effect.

5. No, there is no benefit for “winning” as an individual player.

6. Yes. A creature with knockback, stun, web, bleed, or similar ability inflicts his ability on the player even if it did not do enough damage to get past his armor.

7. I believe this has been erata’d. A creature that resurrects via undying simply goes back to full health and any additional damage is ignored.

8. I can’t remember the wording of Leadership so I can not answer this question.

7: In normal Descent, wounds carry over if a monster revives due to undying. This "carry-over" damage ignores armor since armor's been factored in already. Example:

Undying monster with 5 health and 1 armor is dealt 17 damage
17 damage - 1 armor = 16 wounds
monster takes 5 wounds, dies, succeeds undying roll: Carry over wounds - 11
monster takes 5 wounds, dies, succeeds undying roll: Carry over wounds - 6
monster takes 5 wounds, dies, succeeds undying roll: Carry over wounds - 1
monster takes 1 wound.

8: Yes, you can place an order on yourself. The special bit is that you can choose to forgo your own order to place it on someone else.

Thundercles said:

Thats how we play it as well....

incarna said:

What you are thinking of here is the Descent: The Road to Legend expansion, which changed undying. It still works the way it used to in normal Descent, so far as I know.

I've looked over everything said in this thread, and it has my official stamp of Approval for Accuracy.

(not that anyone needed or asked for it )

Thanks for all the info. Again back to the Leadership card, it says that when the hero makes a ready action, he can move AND attack AND place a ready order, and the ready order may be placed on someone else. Or he could just use it on himself, so in essence, he could move and attack every turn while resting immediately or dodging immediately. Doesn't that seem a bit much?

McRae said:

He wouldn't be able to Rest immediately (as in get the fatigue back the same turn he placed the Rest order) since the Rest order would not resolve until the start of his next turn. However he could:

Move, Attack and Guard (in any order)

Move, Aim and Attack (in any order)

Move, Attack and Dodge (in any order)

etc

etc

As for if its a bit much, not really. Its just a really good skill card.

Yes, it is a bit much, but that's what the skill does. The skill cards vary wildly in power; I rate Leadership as being the strongest.